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Posts tagged ‘Microsoft’

Nov 17

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It’s Official: Zune Sucks!

According to Podcasting News, early reviews are in on the Microsoft Zune, which debuts today. The consensus is: the Zune zucks.

The Zune has benefited from a tremendous amount of buzz. Unfortunately, it appears that Microsoft’s second attempt at an iPod/iTunes killer suffers seriously in comparision to its 5th generation competition.

  • Engadget has a blow-by-blow walkthrough of installing the Zune software, saying that Installing the Zune sucked.
  • PC World says it’s a good first effort, but the Zune’s features don’t seem compelling enough to make it a serious threat to take a big chunk out of iPod sales.
  • Popular Mechanics calls the Zune “the husky, ugly cousin of the iPod”.
  • Gizmodo says the brown Zune looks like it’s made of swamp water jello. We’re not sure what that means, but it sounds ugly.
  • USA Today says “it’s no iPod.” Reviewer Edward C. Baig adds “I’d like to see more offerings in the store, and less stringent wireless restrictions. And Microsoft should rethink the silly points system. For now, I’m sticking with iPod.”
  • The New York Times review, by David Pogue, agrees, noting that a list of things that iPods do that Zunes don’t could stretch to Steve Ballmer’s house and back 10 times.
  • SeattlePI’s review is one of more the positive reviews, but concludes, “We hate to send a Dear Zune after such a brief courtship, but at the end of the night there is no doubt who we’re going to go home with” (an iPod).
  • WSJ’s Walt Mossberg liked several aspects of the Zune, but concludes that the “first Zune has too many compromises and missing features to be as good a choice as the iPod for most users.”
  • Business Week calls the Zune “a dismal failure“.

While the first generation Zune has failed to impress most reviewers, Microsoft is already talking about updates to the Zune software and upgraded Zune hardware. It’s likely that Microsoft will make frequent updates to the Zune system in the next year, until it has a platform that has mass-market potential.

I could agree more. I am sticking with my 6 or 7 iPods.

Oct 22

Video: A very young Bill Gates Praising the Apple Macintosh

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Oct 20

Siemens Tops Microsoft In IPTV Market

According to the most recent report from ABI Research, Siemens leads Microsoft in the worldwide market for IPTV right now, but the race has just begun. ABI just finished up a recent analysis of middleware vendors and found that Siemens was ahead of Microsoft in terms of bundling a broader set of technologies.

Siemens has been ranked at the top of the latest ABI Research Vendor Matrix.

Microsoft Corporation and Alcatel claimed the second and third spots in the company’s most recent evaluation of worldwide IPTV network middleware vendors.

The Vendor Matrix is an analytical tool developed by ABI Research to provide a clear understanding of vendors’ positions in specific markets.

Vendors are assessed by ABI Research on the important parameters of “innovation” and “implementation” across several criteria.

For this particular matrix, under “innovation,” ABI Research examined breadth of services/functions supported by the company’s solution, its interoperability with other solutions, the company’s technology partners, and the scalability of the solution.

Under “implementation,” ABI Research scrutinized the following criteria: the strength of the company’s customer base, brand identification, sales channels, regional/key market diversity, and its ability to package the solution in a broader end-to-end offering.

To view a list of the “top ten” firms in this Vendor Matrix, please visit IPTV Network Middleware Vendor Matrix. Registration on the ABI Research website (free) is required.

Access to the rankings of all companies surveyed is available to clients of ABI Research.

This Vendor Matrix forms part of ABI Research’s Multi-Channel Video Research Service. For a list of all ABI Research Vendor Matrices, please visit The ABI Research Vendor Matrix.

Founded in 1990 and headquartered in New York, ABI Research maintains global operations supporting annual research programs, intelligence services and market reports in broadband and multimedia, RFID and M2M, wireless connectivity, mobile wireless, transportation, and emerging technologies. For information visit www.abiresearch.com, or call +1.516.624.2500.

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